Of Boat Shoes and Golden Retrievers
by Little Red1
Summary: Sailing is a... safe pastime. ( slash themes, be warned.)


Author: Chloe Brownstein  
Summary: Sailing is...a safe pastime.  
Dedication: Lauren of course, cause she's a patriotic ninny with me.   
"Where's New Jersey?" "Somewhere between New York and Pennsylvania."  
Disclaimer: I have no right to mess with Aaron Sorkins wonderful characters, but I've gone into WW withdrawal. In any case, Josh and Sam do not belong to me.  
Chloe lives on feedback, take heed.   
  
"Of Boat Shoes and Gold Retrievers"  
  
It's very cold. Colder then it was in Washington and colder then Josh expected it to be. The wind isn't strong, but coming in long sweeping gusts that somehow find their way under Josh's turtleneck, and he wraps his arms around himself and searches the docks. He didn't really want to come in the first place. He's never been sailing, and never felt the need to try it out; but Sag harbor in early October struck him as something he'd like to see...and anyway, Sam was the one that invited him. The docks creak as Josh walks, and the cuffs of his worn jeans scratch over them, covering the boat shoes he dug out of his closet just for today. It was a long drive, he's glad to be out of the cramped Ford he drove up in, and everyone gets sick of listening to Billy Joel at some point.  
  
Sam said the sail boat would be at the end of the last dock, that it was something he'd inherited from a friend, or won in a race. Josh couldn't remember, but wished that he could. Turning down the last pier, past all the neatly lined up boats, past the yachts with their eccentric names and soaring American flags off the stern, Josh wished the docks were filled with people. Or maybe he didn't, because there was Sam. Looking for all the world like he'd stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad. Crisp off-white sweater adorned with an American flag, light blue jeans, chestnut hair windblown -just so- and a sunny smile plastered on his face as he watched the other come toward the tiny white sailboat. Josh had to steady himself on a piling before he could keep going. This is just what he thought Sag harbor would look like; all it needs now is a Golden Retriever.  
  
Sam is the first one to break the almost silence, his voice cuts in to the sound of the waves lapping against the dock, the boats hitting lightly against their bumpers and the flags blowing in the wind.   
  
"Did you have a hard time finding the place?" He gestures around himself, to the boats.  
  
"Oh, um, nope. Not at all actually. You give...good directions." Josh answers, shoving his hands in his pockets, he hasn't spoken aloud to anyone but himself in the past 7 hours. He wonders if what he just said sounded strange.   
  
"Good, I'm glad." Sam leans back against the mast of the sailboat, and looks Josh up and down. "You look cold," he decides, but doesn't quite know why.   
  
"Yeah, I am cold." Josh says, nodding his head in agreement. "You'd think," he shrugs, "I'd be used to the cold because I lived in New England."   
  
"Washington makes everyone a little soft, eh?" Sam quirks his lips, and Josh stares at him funny.  
  
"Are you sure about that?" Josh asks.  
  
"No." Sam answers, and they both grin and suddenly they start to laugh. But only a little bit, because they've just realized that this is awkward and neither knows why. "The girl I wanted you to meet couldn't make it." Sam says, and Josh looks slightly confused. "She had to stay with her family."   
  
"Oh. Oh, akay." Josh says, and suddenly remembers why Sam wanted him here, because there was someone he was supposed to meet. His heart falls just a little. "What was her name?" He asks, because it only seems polite.   
  
"Her name was Kennedy." Sam quirks his lips again, and waits for Josh's next words because he knows exactly what they'll be.  
  
'That's a funny name for a girl." Josh says. Sam's face breaks into an all out grin and Josh gulps.  
  
"Kennedy is a Golden Retriever." Sam is still smiling because he sees the tension leave Josh's shoulders. "I thought you might like to meet her." Josh is mentally smacking himself because Kennedy would have made the picture perfect.   
  
"You wanted me to meet a dog?"   
  
"Yes. Kennedy is a lovely dog." Sam is still grinning like a fool and Josh wants to find a way to wipe that stupid grin off his face. For now he asks a question.   
  
"Can I put my stuff on the boat?" Sam turns a little bit red, and hops onto the dock.  
  
"I should have asked when you first came down here." He takes Josh's bag and puts it in the cabin, then he offers a hand to Josh. "Let me welcome you aboard." Josh is the one grinning like a fool now, and he gets on. The boat couldn't be a more immaculate white. Sam has always been a neat freak.   
  
Sam keeps on talking about little things, and Josh settles on a cushion toward the stern. He tries to forget how seasick he gets, he tries to forget how terrified he is of the ocean, he tries to remember why he never told Sam any of this, as they're being pushed off from the dock by Sam's strong capable hands. Just as they're about to begin sailing, Josh glances over the back of the boat, past the American flag to where the sailboats name should be written. Her name is Patriot. Josh takes Sam's hand lightly in his own, and remembers why he didn't say a word to Sam, and why he's really here.   
  
Sag harbor is really something in October.  
  
  
Thank you for reading!! Hope you enjoyed it. 


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